The ins and outs of exclusively expressing

[leelee]

Thanks Cath for pointing me towards this thread. It's great!

 

[katy1310]

this thread is brilliant, thank you

I am exclusively expressing at the moment as our daughter was born 2 weeks ago at just 27 weeks and is on 5.5ml of breastmilk every hour. I'm hoping I can keep up with what she needs! I'm getting about 70ml every time I express now and I would like that to increase. I wasn't really sure how often I should be expressing so this thread is great.

The only problem I am encountering is one of my nipples got injured on the agressive hospital electric pump and now it sometimes bleeds from the injured bit when I use the manual pump. I was able to express from it this afternoon but when I tried to do the early evening pumping it was bleeding again. Does anyone have any tips on how to get past this so I can go back to expressing from it without the supply disappearing??

 

[hypnorm]

Kate get some Lansinoh cream it was a god send when i had sore nipples and it will help it heal better (as long as you arent allergic to lanolin)

 

[starbucks101]

Love this thread im really struggling with BF and have started expressing manually as well as trying to latch her on & FF (its all a complete mess atm) I'm only getting about 3oz, 80 - 90ml out from both breasts is this not enough? I have absolutley no idea what i am doing!

 

[loopy_lou]

Thanks guys learnt lots

 

[FitzBaby]

so grateful for this thread. i am exclusively expresssing as bffing just wasn't for me. my nipples are still very sore (LO is 8 days old) and am using lanolin every time after i pump. i get very frowned upon when i tell people this is how i am feeding my daughter but it's so nice to get advice here on how to do it!

 

[bubbella]

Thank you everyone for the advice, I am bf my 2 week old and trying to express in between so OH can feed for both bonding and so I can get a bit of a break. My question is how do you know how much to express into each bottle to ensure LO is getting enough when they feed. This is one thing that has been of constant concern since she was born, you just can't tell how much they are actually getting from the breast and you can't help but wonder if you're expressing enough to put into bottles for a later feed. I realize that they will tell you if they are still hungry but it still worries me constantly.

I guess it's only natural in the first few weeks that you are constantly thinking that you're doing something wrong.

Any advice would be so greatly appreciated.

 

[katy1310]

Kate get some Lansinoh cream it was a god send when i had sore nipples and it will help it heal better (as long as you arent allergic to lanolin)

Got some thank you and it's brilliant Heals them up so quickly even if the bleeding starts again when I start expressing it's ok for the next time if I use the cream. I've discovered that if I put it on after every time I express, that seems to be the answer

 

[katy1310]

so grateful for this thread. i am exclusively expresssing as bffing just wasn't for me. my nipples are still very sore (LO is 8 days old) and am using lanolin every time after i pump. i get very frowned upon when i tell people this is how i am feeding my daughter but it's so nice to get advice here on how to do it!

At least she is getting the breastmilk which is the important thing, it doesn't matter how she gets it. I really wanted to breastfeed (before Sophie was born prematurely) but the way I'm looking at it is, even if I can't actually breastfeed her when we get her home, at least she has had breastmilk from birth by me expressing and she has now been getting it for almost 4 weeks.

Don't listen to what people say, you are still giving her the very best start!

 

[Melanie09]

This thread is brilliant, I'm so glad i have seen it before my LO arrives.
Thanks so much xx

 

[aneageraussie]

indeed what a good thread.. im planning to return to work 12-14 weeks after LO is born and so will be expressing it..
really useful... i have added in my shopping list a good sterliser and all other products mentioned in first post

thanks for that info

 

[Pixie71]

Very useful thread. I feed my LO on the boob, and he gets a formula bottle between 2 - 4 am depending on when he wakes, his routine is fairly good usually 3 - 3.5/4 hours depending on how long I can get him to feed for. My milk has settled and I can express if I want to, but I dont really need to. He was away for the night on sat and my last feed with him was at 3pm and when I got home at midnight I got 6.5 ounces from both boobs and the same again that morning at 10 am, since then when I feed him, I leak on whatever boob is not being sucked! He takes a 6oz bottle so I presume that is more or less what he is getting when he feeds, especially if he feeds for 30 mins or more! He has steadily put on weight and seems to be thriving. He has had days where he has fed every two hours too usually with a growth spurt and my body seems tobe able to cope.

 

[Linz88]

This is sooo helpful x

 

[binxyboo]

I have just found this thread so THANK YOU!
My LO was born 8 days ago by emergency c-section and just didn't really take to the breast. I found the support pretty non-existant in hospital. I went to the breast-feeding clinic where I was told to 'just persevere' and was sent home.
LO was then re-admitted into hospital as he had lost over 10% of his birth weight. On admission, his blood tests showed signs of infection and he was started on IV antibiotics. I was told the infection may have made him difficult to feed.
However, by then, he was being syringe fed and it made him reject the breast.
I have been excluively pumping as I really want him to have breast milk.

this thread has made me feel a lot more positive about not being able to breast feed, and about pumping in general.

 

[Pixie71]

binxy congrats on birth and glad to hear you are keeping the milk going too!

 

[Isobelhh]

I don't have any probs breastfeeding but I do tend to feed my little girl expressed milk most of the time. I breastfeed her when I get up in the morning but as she doesnt take a lot, I have a lot spare! (about 8oz!) I then express at lunchtime and teatime. Its usually enough for 3 feeds for her and then she has formula before bed. When I exclusivey breastfed I found it hard to tell how much my little girl was getting, she needed hourly feeds and just found it quite exhausting.Now I know she needs 7oz each time, every 3-4 hours and find it sooo much easier. The best thing is, she is still getting all the breastmilk benefits xx

 

[Nicnac]

Thank you for this thread, it's really helped over the last two months or so.

Due to a missed diagnosed tongue tie, Alfie couldn't latch so I have been expressing for the last 10 weeks. It's been tough, more so now that he sleeps through the night and I'm still getting up once or twice to express, but every now and again I come back and read through and get that little bit of extra oopmh to carry on.

I was planning on giving up after 12 weeks, but now after a quick review, I've realised I can give up the night express and carry on for that little bit longer.

The advice over the sterilising once a day was a god send. It reduced the whole pumping experience to the 10 mins, rather than 3/4 hour included in the washing and cold water sterilising. Phew.

Good luck to everyone expressing. It is rewarding knowing that even though you couldn't get them to the boob (for whatever reason), the LO are still getting the best

 

[Mimi80]

My little diva has refused the boob during the day since she was about 2 months. She only drinks "live" during her early morning dream-feed at about 5/6 a.m.
She would start screaming and crying and to be honest made me feel really bad about it. Since I was returning to work at 12 weeks I decided to just go with it and start expressing almost exclusively. I have the Medela Swing pump and so far it's doing the job pretty well.

I get up at 6.30, do both breasts which gets me about 300ml. At work I pump at 10.30, 12.30 and 15.30 and I get 150ml. from each session. When I get home I pump once or twice. At the moment I have too much milk (150ml goes into the freezer every day), but since I'm planning to BF 6 months exclusively I want to keep that production high.

On the days that I don't work I'm more relaxed about it, only pump "on demand" so to speak.

I do get comments from people (also women that have BF themselves) that I will get fed up, or should just switch to formula, but that thought has never crossed my mind. I really don't mind doing it, my little girl is doing great, she's happy and healthy.
I plan to go on until she's 1 and lately have been contemplating about continueing after that. She will eat other food as well, so I will need a lot less milk anyway.

Moral of my story is to just do what makes you and your baby happy. There aren't any rules when it comes to babies. Listen to advice, but do what suits your situation!

 

[lauren10]

Hi, just thought I'd chime in here that I'm a pumper! My daughter had surgery at 4 days old so I had to pump that first week that she was NPO. When I started nursing her, I found that she had a hard time latching and is kind of lazy...nurses a little then falls asleep. It took sooo long and then she'd be hungry an hour or two later. So...It's been almost 11 weeks now that we're pumping and she's still fed breast milk exclusively. it works really well for us and I've chosen to continue this way even though she's a stronger nurser.

Does anyone else feel like they need to explain themselves when someone asks if you're nursing/breastfeeding? Like pumping isn't "real" breastfeeding or something. I'm trying to stop doing that because I know it's totally legit and you just have to do what works best for you...but I still find myself doing it!

 

[Jox]

I agree Lauren. im exclusively expressing. not because I have to... because I want to. People say are you nursing and i just say yes im expressing. makes me laugh how people dont class it as good as bfing when surely it is. at the end of the say its breast milk and thats what bfing is all about!!!

Yay for EE!!!!

xxx